Endless
by lookingforthestars
Summary: The waiting is the hardest part.
1. Chapter 1

**I've been thinking lately about how different Scorpion might have been if everyone involved knew there would only be four seasons. Would we have waited three frustrating years for Waige to get together? Or would they be married by now? Would Happy and Toby have a kid? Where would Sylvester and Cabe be? I guess that's the weird/terrible thing about most TV shows. How can you plan out a satisfying story when you don't know where it ends?**

 **Yeah, you can tell I'm not over this cancellation. I'm still heartbroken when I think about it so I try not to think about it. But what I CAN do is write fics, so here you go. I think this will end up being a two-shot.**

It was rare that Walter didn't trust his ability to drive.

He'd driven away from bullets and directly underneath airplanes. Nothing should have fazed him anymore. But as his hands shook on the steering wheel and he nearly missed his turn because focusing was borderline impossible, he almost wished he had called a cab.

The genius had barely put the car in park before he was yanking out the keys and running toward the building he despised. Nothing good in his life had ever happened in a hospital. The lobby was just as cold and sterile as he remembered, and before he could physically hang up the phone that the receptionist was holding to ask where Ralph was, Toby emerged from the stairwell.

"Walter," the shrink said, reaching him in a few strides and grabbing his shoulder firmly. "Take a breath. He's in surgery. There nothing we can do right now."

 _There's nothing we can do._ Even though Toby hadn't meant it the same way, those words brought back too many memories of Megan's doctors and their sympathetic looks. He hadn't been willing to believe them then. But ultimately, they were right.

Walter shirked away from his touch, but nodded and followed him to the elevator. "How bad is it? Tell me the truth, Toby."

"I don't know," he said quietly, pressing the button for the third floor. This method of transportation was far more inefficient than taking the stairs, but rushing upstairs just to face an agonizing wait didn't make much sense either. "He was unconscious when they brought him in. A lot of internal injuries. But we won't know the extent of it until he gets out of surgery. I'm sorry. I wish I had more to tell you."

"No. I…" Walter swallowed, staring ahead at the door as his eyes started to sting. "T-Thank you for calling me."

The client would forgive him for rushing out in the middle of the job. He would find time to contact them and explain that his son was in the hospital. Any sane person would understand that.

 _His son_. Even if the odds of that becoming true—legally, at least—were exceedingly slim now, there was nothing to stop Walter from thinking it.

"Paige asked me to," Toby admitted, quickly registering the surprise on Walter's face and adding, "I probably wasn't supposed to tell you that. But just so you know…she thought you should be here."

He wasn't sure what to do with that information. She hadn't completely denied him a relationship with Ralph—he was still a part of the young genius's life—but that didn't mean he would automatically be notified of important events like he would have a few months earlier. "H-How is she?"

"You know her," Toby said with a humorless smile. "She's falling apart. But she won't let anyone see it. Don't take it personally if she doesn't act thrilled to see you."

"I don't expect her to." The elevator dinged and Walter took a deep breath before stepping out, only for it to catch in his throat when he saw her.

Paige was sitting in a cheap grey chair, gazing blankly at the wall. If things were normal, he wouldn't hesitate to pull her into his arms, assure her over and over that everything would be okay as she cried into his shoulder. But they weren't. So he just nodded vacantly as Toby said something about meeting the rest of the team in the cafeteria and approached her cautiously, taking a tentative seat next to her.

She didn't turn or acknowledge his presence, and Walter was almost startled when she finally did speak. "They said it might be hours before we hear anything," Paige explained, clearing her throat to steady her shaking voice. "They said if he'd been any closer, not even surgery would have helped."

He hadn't been paying full attention when Toby told him about the accident, but the facts were still stored away. Ralph had been walking home from a friend's house. The couple he saved from the wreck were okay, suffering only minor injuries, but the resulting explosion threw him several feet onto the pavement.

"I'm sorry," he murmured. It was his fault for getting Ralph involved in cases. Making the young genius think he could run headfirst into danger and save the day.

Paige had said once that she didn't want Ralph to turn into him. At that moment, Walter wished for the same thing.

She shrugged weakly. "I'm gonna spend my whole life being terrified for him, aren't I?"

 _If he makes it through this._ But that thought made him as sick as it would surely make Paige. Ralph was young and strong and incredibly stubborn. He had to be okay.

Walter wasn't sure which of those sentiments would be welcome, if any of them. So he settled for resting his hand next to hers, a familiar sense of comfort flowing through him when she grasped his fingers and squeezed them.


	2. Chapter 2

He wasn't sure the team had ever been this quiet.

Walter found himself willing Toby to make an inappropriate quip. Waiting for Cabe's mumbled-under-his-breath complaints about the coffee. Hell, even Paige yelling at him would have made everything more bearable.

Instead, they'd been sitting in oppressive silence for nearly two hours, save for a few brief side conversations that faded out as quickly as they started. There was nothing to say. Occasionally Paige would close her eyes, opening them again a minute or two later. He wondered if she was praying.

In other circumstances, being around the team again would have made him secretly elated, or maybe furious. He wasn't sure. He didn't feel that way now, though. He didn't feel much of anything except the invisible hand pressing down on his chest. If they didn't receive news soon, Walter didn't think he could be held legally responsible for barging straight into the operating room and demanding an update.

"Do you know what Ralph would say if saw us right now?" Five heads shot up to see who had dared to break the stalemate. Sylvester cleared his throat, staring down at his hands clasped in his lap. "He would say that we're hypocrites. Because we can be here for him, but not for each other."

It didn't seem helpful to point out that Sylvester had been the first one to leave. Perhaps that was what made him most qualified to say it.

He always was the bravest among them.

"Ralph doesn't just deserve this when he's in danger. He deserves this all the time," the mathematician continued, twisting his hands together. There was a long pause before he met Walter's eyes, radiating nervous determination. "I broke Scorpion. I'm sorry."

The genius shook his head, his throat too tight to speak at first. Walter wondered how long Sly had been thinking that, waiting for the right opportunity. He'd wanted to be the bigger person and apologize for hurting his brother. He knew it would be important to Megan. But everything was just so broken he couldn't see where to start. "No," he managed. "I share the blame. I should have been more…aware. I d-didn't know."

"We all share the blame," Happy said flatly, exchanging a knowing glance with her husband. "I don't want to raise a kid who thinks you should just abandon your family when they disappoint you."

Cabe nodded and smiled kindly, patting the mechanic's knee. "When this is all over, it sounds like we could use a team dinner to hash some things out. Deal?"

Everyone murmured some form of agreement, looking to Paige, who hadn't spoken a word. Her hair was obscuring her face from Walter's view and he'd never been less certain of anything than her reaction.

"Miss Dineen?" They all scrambled to their feet at the unfamiliar voice. The surgeon took a few strides toward them, his face solemn but soft as he addressed Paige directly. "The operation was successful. Your son will need to stay in the hospital for a few more days, and he needs physical therapy for his leg injuries. But he will recover."

He continued to detail the results of the surgery, but Walter was only half paying attention. Mostly because Ralph was going to be okay. And partially because Paige was leaning against him for support as she finally let go of her sobs.

* * *

"He wants to see you next."

Paige looked utterly exhausted as she stood over him. He couldn't blame her. They'd been in the hospital for what felt like an ungodly amount of time and he was certainly in sore need of a shower and a nap.

She'd insisted the team didn't need to wait around for Ralph to wake up. They ignored her.

"Yeah. Sure." He rose, surprised when Paige walked side-by-side with him to the room. She hadn't said much at all, and it didn't feel right to press her. Anything not related to Ralph's physical wellbeing could wait.

Walter's breath caught when he saw the young genius. His small frame was practically swamped in bandages, and he was hooked up to an excessive number of monitors and IVs. Walter didn't know whether to be devastated or angry or relieved or…

"God, Ralph," he breathed, lowering gently onto the edge of the bed. "What were you thinking?"

The boy grinned, his eyes slightly glazed from the pain medication. "It's just a flesh wound."

Paige giggled softly behind him. Walter squinted; he was clearly missing something. Perhaps the morphine was making Ralph delirious. "Do you know how lucky you were? You scared the hell out of us."

He shrugged weakly. "I didn't go out of my way looking for a burning car. It was just there. What would you have done?"

"You can't…" _You can't be like me. You can't risk yourself. Why would you want to be like me, anyway? I've lost everything I cared about._

But he hadn't lost Ralph. Not today.

His anger—if it could even be called that—dissipated in an instant and he leaned forward, sighing. "You have to be more careful," he said sternly, well aware that Ralph would forget most of this by morning but needing to say it anyway. "I'm serious, Ralph. It's one thing to use your brain to help with dangerous situations. But no more physical danger, got it?"

Ralph nodded with mock seriousness. "I would salute, but I can't lift my arm."

"This isn't—." Walter swallowed the lecture on his tongue. The young genius was clearly still drowsy, and Paige would surely ground him for life after this. Coming down hard was the definition of wasted effort. "I'm just glad you're okay," he said instead, returning Ralph's tired smile.

Paige stepped forward, stroking the corner of Ralph's forehead that wasn't bandaged. "Do you want to see everyone else really quick, and then get some more sleep?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"Goodnight, kid," Walter murmured before joining Paige in the hallway. He started to head back toward the lobby, but her hand landed on his arm, stilling him.

"Walter, wait." He wasn't sure if he consciously complied with her request, or if his body just reacted instinctively, but he turned toward her, stepping to the side as a nurse rushed past him. She looked up at him – it felt like the first eye contact she'd made since he arrived at the hospital, and he was once again confounded by the difference between the anger and pain he knew he should feel in her presence, and the reality that all he still wanted was to hold her. "Thank you for being here."

"O-Of course." Walter frowned, unsure if it was wise to try to decipher the numerous emotions visible on her face. "I'll always be here for Ralph."

"I know. And I appreciate that." She crossed her ankles, resting her weight against the wall. "But I didn't just call you for Ralph."

Walter said nothing, certain that any way he could read the situation was probably wrong.

"I was scared," she admitted quietly, pressing her lips together into a tight line. "I didn't know…I d-didn't know if Ralph would be okay. And everyone was trying to comfort me. But I needed you." Paige met his gaze, her eyes damp and red, her words jumbled in Walter's head as he attempted to sort and process them. "You've always made me feel safe. I knew you would keep me from falling apart. A-And I didn't want to do this here. I _don't_ want to do this here. But thank you for being there. For both of us."

"Paige." He'd meant to say more than her name, but that one syllable was all that came out. Communication never had been his strong suit.

Paige looked from one end of the hallway to the other, determining they were alone before she cupped his cheek and kissed him. The contact was brief, barely a second, just enough to make every nerve in Walter's body stand on edge as she pulled back to look at him. "I know I have so much to explain. And make up for. But I want to try." She brushed his temple with her thumb before dropping her hand. "Ralph is gonna need to stay home for a while. He'll be bored out of his mind. I would like it if you could come over and spend time with him. A-And…and with me."

The logical answer was probably no. But logic didn't account for the fact that Ralph had gotten a second chance, they were all getting a second chance, and whether it was logical or not, Walter couldn't imagine not taking it. "I would like that too."


End file.
